Mail-box.



PATBNTED JULY 28, 1908.

ZAFBESSNERL MAIL, BOX.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 25, 1901.

vwenlioz 1 Q daailerlaafiesszw witnmeo ADALBERTUS BESSNER, OFPHILLIPSBURG, NEW JERSEY.

.MAIL-B OX.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 28, 1908.

Application filed June 25, 1907. Serial No. 380,687.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that LADALBERTUs BESSNER, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Phillipsburg, Warren and State of New Jersey, haveinvented new and' useful Improvements in Mail Boxes, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to mail boxes designed more particularly for useon rural free delivery routes or for use in villages and other placeswhere householders within a certain radius may be served with their mailwithout having to travel a great distance to the post oflice. g

One of the princi al objects of the inventi on is to provide a box orreceptacle having a number of compartments therein, all of saidcompartments being accessible to the letter carrier, and eachcompartment being accessible only to the person who holds the key of hisbox.

Another object of the invention is to provide a box or receptaclemounted to rotate upon a post, said receptacle having a long doortherein for the letter carrier, which will give access to the innercompartments of the box, and when the door is closed Willhold the innerand outer compartments rigidly together so that the doors for eachpersons mail will communicate with the proper opening in the inner comartment.

These and other 0 jects may be attained by means of the constructionillustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a mail box made in accordance with myinvention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2-2, of Fig. 1,looking in the direction indicated by the arrows. Fig. 3 is a verticalsection on the line 33, of Fig. 2, looking in the direction indicated bythe arrows. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the inner compartment ormember. outer casing with the cover removed.

Referring to the drawing for a more particular description of myinvention, the numeral 1 designates the outer casing, the u er and lowerends of which are provided w1t radial arms 2 provided with a centralopening through which the upper end of a post 3 passes, said post havingan annular flange.

or ring 4 upon which the caslng rests and a in the county of Fig. 5 is atop plan view of the detachable ring 5 for holding the casing in place.

A suitable roof or .cover 6 is secured to the casing 1 and the outeredges of the roof extend beyond the casing to properly shed the Watertherefrom. The casing 1 is provided with a long door 7 which reachesfrom near the top to near the bottom of the casing, said door beingconnected by suitable hinges 8 to the casing 1, and provided with asuitable keyhole 9 and lock. Letter box doors 10 extend around thecasing and arranged in vertical series of three in each series, as shownin Fig. 1, said doors being properly hinged to the casing and providedwith a suitable lock.

The inner mail receptacle consists of an inclosed top 11', a similarbottom 12 connected by a tube 13, a series of compartments 14, eachhaving an upwardly projecting flange 16 at the outer side thereof and amail opening above the flange. At one point within the inner receptaclethe com artments and partitions 17, and floors 18 o the compartments areomitted and an opening 19 is pro vided which conforms substantially tothe width and height of the door 7. A series of pins or other suitableprojections 20 extend inward from one edge of the door 7, saidprojections engaging apertures 21 in one of the divided partitions 17 tohold the outer casing in position relatively to the compartments 14 andoors 10.'

The operation of my invention may be briefly described as follows: Thenames of the respective householders are placed upon the doors 10 andalso upon one of the partitions 17 of the compartments 14. The mail boxbeing laced in a centrally located position where qiouseholders within acertain radius can come and gettheir mail, the letter carrier opens thedoor 7 and deposits mail in the compartments 14 by rotating the innermember relatively to the outer member until the desired compartmentscome into coincidence with the opening closed by the door 7. After themail has been deposited in the various compartments, the. innerreceptacle is rotated until the rojections 20 come into coincidence witht e apertures 21 when the door 7 is closed and locked, thus bringinginto register the doors 10 with the compartments 14 of each respectivehouseholder.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that the letter box may be of anyre uired size to contain any suitable number of etter boxes, that theletter carrier has free access to all of the boxes and that eachhouseholder is only permitted access to his own box.

My invention is of comparatively simple construction, can bemanufactured and installed at comparatively slight cost, will save verymuch time of the letter carrier, and will be very convenient forhouseholders in many sections of the country.

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed is:

1. A letter box comprising an outer casing and an inner receptaclemounted to rotate upon a post, said outer receptacle having a doorextending vertically from near the top to the bottom thereof, and aseries of com partment doors, and the inner compartment having a seriesof mail receptacles therein which coincide with the individual doors ofthe outer casing, and means upon the longer door to hold the outercasing in proper position relatively to the inner compartment.

2. A mail box comprising an outer casing and an inner receptacle mountedto rotate independently upon a post, a carrier door in the outercompartment and a series of individual doors in the outer compartment,said inner receptacle having a series of mail receivlng compartmentstherein, means connected to the carriers door for locking the outercasin to the inner receptacle.

3. A mail box comprising an outer casing provided with a cover, an innerreceptacle rovided with partitions, floors and openings mto saidcompartments, said casing and receptacle being mounted to rotateindependently upon a post, a carrier door hinged to the outercompartment and communicating with an opening in the inner receptacle,and means on the door for locking the outer casing and inner receptaclein position so that the individual doors will open communication withthe individual mail receptacles.

4. A mail box comprising two members mounted to rotate upon a post,doors in the outer member, compartments in the inner member, and meansupon one of the doors for holding said two members in propel relativeposition.

In testimony whereof, I iLlllX my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

ADALBERTUS BESSNER.

Witnesses JOHN BALL, GEORGE FIRTH.

